License to Sing

Among the many days that have traditional names ascribed to them (e.g. New Year’s Day, Shrove Tuesday, Mother’s Day) is Spy Wednesday, which is today. It’s the name given to the Wednesday before Easter Sunday and marks the day that Judas Iscariot decided to betray Jesus, as recorded in the Bible. Some Christian denominations still mark this day in their services.

So, as I did a few years ago I’ll mark Spy Wednesday by writing about the world’s most famous spy, James Bond. My intention was to write about the gay artist who designed many of the original book covers, but I had already done a bit about that last time. What I hadn’t done is write about the Bond themes and their lgbt+ connections. This is the first of two articles about the music of 007.

Music has always been a significant element of the Bond films, especially the title songs and the iconic Bond theme itself. I’m a fan of the Bond themes (except the bland Daniel Craig songs). Over the years a handful of lgbt+ singers and songwriters who have contributed to the Bond franchise. Some of the songs and music were rejected or used elsewhere, and these will also be covered.

Here is the chronological list of known lgbt+ singers and songwriters from the pre-Daniel Craig era.

“From Russia With Love” (1963) – The second Bond film and the first to include the film’s title in the theme song. He writer of the song was Lionel Bart (1930-1999), perhaps best known for writing the musical “Oliver!”

It may sound strange to some of you, but Lionel Bart is one of the many songwriters and musicians (like Elton John and Paul McCartney) who can’t read or write music, but could play an instrument (it’s like speaking without knowing how to read or write, as long as you make the right sound). Lionel would play the song on piano, perhaps record it, and a fellow musician would convert what he or she heard into musical notation. In the case of “From Russia With Love” it appears that John Barry, the main Bond composer of the 1960s, wrote down Lionel’s song and gave it the full orchestral arrangement for the film. That is why John Barry is often given a co-writing credit for the song.

“Thunderball” (1965) – Several other artists recorded a theme song, including Johnny Cash, which were all rejected. Twelve years ago, some 47 years after the film was released, a rejected theme for “Thunderball” by the above-mentioned Lionel Bart was rediscovered by Bond music expert Jon Burlingame.

As well as the title song, Bart also composed several variations which were probably intended to be used as incidental music. These all may have been demo recordings and not submitted officially to the Bond producers.

“Casino Royale” (1967) – Although not a part of the official James Bond franchise, this spoof film has become something of a cult. The film score was composed by music legend Burt Bacharach who, with his lyricist Hal David, came up with what is regarded as the film’s signature song, “The Look of Love”. In fact, the song almost never made it into the film at all.

The sequence in which “The Look of Love” features was directed by James McGrath. He played the song “The Girl From Ipanema” on set many times. When he came to shoot the seduction sequence with Peter Sellers and Ursula Andress he felt “The Girl From Ipanema” fitted the scene. However, the producers thought this would be too “arty” and threatened to cut the scene out altogether. So, McGrath asked Bacharach and David to come up with a song that gave the same feeling. They came up with “The Look of Love”. Thank goodness McGrath decided to keep the scene against the producer’s wishes or we wouldn’t have had the pleasure of hearing one of the best Bond songs ever.

Credit for the success of the song must also be given to its singer, the lesbian icon Dusty Springfield (1949-1999). A favourite singer of Burt Bacharach, Dusty’s smoky voice emphasises the sensual nature of the scene. Bacharach always referred to “The Look of Love” as a sexual song, not a love song. Fortunately for all concerned, the song was a massive hit and was nominated for an Oscar (it lost to “Talk to the Animals” from “Doctor Doolittle”).

“The Living Daylights” (1987) – It would be another 20 years and 12 films later that any lgbt+ singer or songwriter is known to have written for Bond. However, this time the song never made the film. It also connects us quite neatly with Dusty Springfield, because the group whose song was rejected was the Pet Shop Boys, featuring openly gay Neil Tennant (b.1954). The Pet Shop Boys are often wrongly credited with bringing Dusty Springfield out of “retirement” in 1987, when in fact Richard Carpenter had done so several months beforehand with the song “Something In Your Eyes”, but that’s another story.

The Pet Shop Boys wrote their “The Living Daylights” theme song in 1986. The story goes that someone connected with the production of the film had remarked that the group may be approached to write the theme song. The identity of that production crew member is uncertain, as is the exact nature of the “approach”. Perhaps it was just a rumour, or a case of the Pet Shop Boys being one of many names mentioned informally as a possibly suitable commercial choice. In the end the Pet Shop Boys wrote their song and recorded it, only to find that the band A-ha had been chosen instead.

Not letting a good song go to waste, the Pet Shop Boys reworked the song into a track called “This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave”. It was featured on their 1990 album “Behaviour”. Recording the theme song for a Bond film only to have it rejected is not uncommon.

“Tomorrow Never Dies” (1997) – Moving on another ten years, we come to the film with one accepted and one rejected son featuring lgbt+ artists.

Not all Bond films have their signature song played over the opening credits. One or two are played over the closing credits. The most famous of these is “We have All the Time In the World” (“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”). One less well-known end credit song is overshadowed by the opening credit title song in “Tomorrow Never Dies”. The end credit song is sung by another lesbian icon, k. d. lang (b.1961).

Unlike many other Bond songs, the producers of this film let it be known that they would be willing to accept any prospective Bond theme from any artist and writer. This led to more possible Bond songs that before, 12 in all, officially. One of the songs was written and sung by Marc Almond (b.1957). Unfortunately, his song is one of several that has never been released commercially or has been reworked and recorded fro public release, so we may never hear it.

The story of how k. d. lang ended up singing the closing theme and not the opening one was different. In 1997 British film composer David Arnold (“Stargate”, “Independence Day”, and the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, amongst other projects) produced a Bond music tribute album called “Shaken and Stirred”, consisting of Bond songs covered by other artists. For “Diamonds Are Forever” Arnold chose gay singer-songwriter David McAlmont (b.1967). The Bond producers heard the album and offered Arnold the job of scoring the whole “Tomorrow Never Dies” film. However, the first thing Arnold did was to ask McAlmont to co-write the theme song. Basically, the melody is McAlmont’s, the arrangement is Arnold’s, and the lyrics are by Bond legend Don Black. McAlmont was the singer on the demo tape.

However, the Bond producer’s had decided that none of the artists who submitted songs would be commercial enough to use, so they chose a popular singer of that period, Cheryl Crow, to write and perform the eventual Bond opening song instead.

Not to be outdone, Arnold rescored his theme, now retitled “Surrender”, with k. d. lang as the singer. The producers agreed to put the song at the end of the film over the closing credits. It’s a typical Bond song, with blaring trumpets, strong bass chords, and soaring vocals. I wonder it wasn’t chosen for the opening titles precisely because it too stereotypically Bond.

There’s actually a video on YouTube in which someone has put k.d. lang’s “Surrender” over the opening credits of “Tomorrow Never Dies” (below). I think you’ll agree, you can’t get any more “Bondy” than that.

That’s about it for today. I’ll continue this look at 007’s queer music in May.

Day Of The Dead: Out Of His Hollywood Tree

We’re halfway through what the Christian Church calls Hallowtide. This is the 3-day period of remembrance and devotion to our ancestors. It began with All Hallow’s Eve (corrupted into Hallowe’en), followed by All Hallow’s Day (or All Saint’s Day), and tomorrow is All Soul’s Day. We don’t need to go into the history of Hallowtide, except to say that historians day there’s no evidence that there was any similar festival in pagan of pre-Christian times. No, the Celts didn’t have a festival called Samhain. As far the evidence suggests, Samhain was the name of a month or time of year, not a festival.

Mexico is the country that is most widely recognised as celebrating Hallowtide in a unique way in the festival which translates into English as the Day of the Dead. It was the Spanish colonists are recorded as taking Hallowtide to the Americas, and perhaps the ancestors of today’s subject was among them. The person whose ancestors I have chosen to delve into was the early Hollywood sex symbol Ramon Novarro (1859-1968).

There another reason why I have chosen him. Two days ago, the day before Hallowe’en, was the 55th anniversary of Ramon Novarro’s murder. You can read a bit about Ramon in this “80 Gays” article.

Ramon was not the only member of his family to make it big in the early days of cinema. His first cousin (daughter of his mother’s sister) was Andrea Palma (1903-1987), who became a big star in their native Mexico, though she did make a memorable supporting role in an American gilm, “Tarzan and the Mermaids” (1948) starring Johnny Weismuller.

A more distant cousin, Dolores del Rio (1904-1983), had bigger success in the US. She is particularly remembered as a lead character in “Flying Down to Rio” (1933), though people usually only remember two supporting actors, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the legendary dancing partnership first brought together for this film. Dolores and Ramon were third cousins, both being great-great-grandchildren of Leandro Sanchez Manzanera and his wife. Dolores was also famous for an affair she had with Orson Welles.

There are several other acting cousins of Ramon Novarro, including some alive today, but his ancestry shows no indication of where the acting bug came from. So, what is his ancestry?

Ramon Novarros’ real name was José Ramón Gal Samaniego. His parents were Dr. Mariano Sameniego (1871-1940) and Leonor Pérez-Gavilán (1872-1949). Both came from well-connected and prominent families with long lineages. Ultimately, as you might guess, the majority of Ramon’s ancestry came from Spain.

There is a tantalising rumour that Ramon has Aztec ancestry through his mother, to no less a person than Moctezuma (or Montezuma), probably the most famous Aztec “emperor”, but I am unable to find any information to verify this. However, that doesn’t stop Ramon from having family connections to other Mexican emperors. His grandfather’s great-uncle was married to the sister of Agustin I Yturbide (1783-1924), the first Emperor of Mexico after independence from Spain. He wasn’t in office long. There was a lot of opposition to Mexico becoming a monarchy, most strongly in the Mexican Congress. Agustin dismissed Congress and appointed his own. Very soon almost everyone else turned against him and he was ousted.

A feature of European colonialism is that quite a lot of the first colonists came from wealthy, landed families and minor aristocracy (most of the US Founding Fathers were from the upper classes). Because of this Agustin Yturbide can be put on the list of Ramon Novarro’s famous distant blood relatives in addition to his connection though marriage. Ramon and Agustin are descended from a Spanish noble called Fernán Yañez de Saavedra (d.1370). In turn, Fernán is descended from an illegitimate daughter of King Sancho IV of Castile (1221-1284). Going back further, and one of King Sancho’s ancestors was King Henry II of England, meaning I am a very distant cousin of Ramon Novarro also.

That opens up a huge catalogue of blood relatives that Ramon Novarro can claim. For this particular article, however, let’s just concentrate of some Hispanic cousins.

I haven’t done a massive amount of research into the ancestries of many Latin American or Spanish celebrities and famous people, though I have done some into those of national leaders. Through the same small group of Conquistadors in Ramon’s ancestry he is distantly related to at least two Presidents of El Salvador, six Presidents of Nicaragua, several dozen from Costa Rica, a couple from Colombia, and a couple from Argentina.

Among the Colombian Presidents in Virgilio Barco Vargas (1921-1997). One of my previous “Out of His Tree” articles featured President Barco’s gay son, the activist Virgilio Barco Isakson.

As far as Mexico is concerned, Ramon has at least four Mexican Presidents as distant cousins. One in particular is of interest, the fourth president Anastasio Bustamente (1780-1853). We enter Abraham Lincoln territory here. That is to say, there is clear evidence that the president shared a bed with another man, but that doesn’t necessarily indicate homosexuality. Both Lincoln and Bustamente shared a bed with another man. That was common in pre-20th century times. We have no evidence that any physical or sexual intimacy occurred. However, even though I still have reservations about the sexuality attributed to Abraham Lincoln I a have fewer regarding Anastasio Bustamente. It is widely reported that he preferred the company of young men, and he never married. So perhaps, he could have been gay.

Which other well-known Latin Americans are related to Ramon Novarro though his Conquistador ancestors? Well, there’s Che Guevara, Simon Bolivar, Eva Peron, and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Going back and looking at Ramon’s non-Hispanic cousins, you can get a good idea from the articles I wrote about descendants of King Edward II of England, beginning here.

So, that’s Ramon Novarro’s family tree. It is dominated by the bloodlines and legacy of the Spanish Conquistadors. His immediate ancestry centres on the Durango province of Mexico, but most of his earliest colonial ancestors settled in the northern part of Spanish Mexico, the area which is now the US state of New Mexico.

Oscar's Queer Awards

The covid pandemic may have disrupted film production over the past year but is hasn’t disrupted the awards season where it seems that quotas, inclusion and diversity are more important than actual talent and achievement.

It isn’t generally known, especially by self-identified lgbt spokespeople, that there have been many lgbt winners and nominees of Oscars. There were more lgbt nominees in the ten years of the 1950s (132) than there were in the 25 years from 1994 to 2019 (126). Many of these nominees may not have been lgbt publicly, but then they didn’t have social media demanding that this part of their life should be made public. Most were openly lgbt to those they worked with and knew. There has only been two awards ceremonies where there weren’t any lgbt nominees – November 1933 (there were two ceremonies that year, the first being in April) and 1935. As the ceremony last weekend was the 93rd that means that there are had been at least 91 lgbt nominations in Oscar history.

Do you remember Sam Smith looking like a complete fool by declaring in front of the world to be the first openly lgbt Oscar winner in 2015 (probably the only thing Sam will ever be remembered for)? Thankfully, there were plenty of previous lgbt Oscar winners ready to put the record straight.

Of course, there were people who were deliberately secretive about their sexuality, but fewer than you might think. It is recognised that the film studio bosses deliberately suppressed news in the media about a film star’s sexuality. To cover up any scandal the news would have caused at that time the studios arranged for that person to get married. This attitude towards sexuality in the American cinema still prevails today, despite the deceptive appearance of there being a lot of out American actors and film-makers.

There are too many lgbt nominees and winners to list here (602 in total, held by 219 individuals), but an almost accurate list is available on Wikipedia. A handful of the names it lists are not verified as being lgbt, being based purely on unsubstantiated rumour or unreliable testimony. Some names that have been included which are based on rumour have other supporting evidence which supports their identification. There are also a few omissions and wrongly categorised names.

So, here are some of the more interesting and significant facts and figures about lgbt nominees and winners of Oscars.

Category with the most lgbt nominations, and category with the most lgbt winners
Best Art Direction (replaced with Best Production Design in 2012) received 20 lgbt nominations. Between 1941 and 1970 the category was subdivided into Colour and Black and White.

Best Art Direction: Colour received 67 nominations, and Best Art Direction: Black and White received 58. In total the Best Art Direction category has received 145 lgbt nominations. Of those 145 nominations, 28 won. Best Art Direction won 4 times, Best Art Direction: Colour won 13 times, and Best Art Direction: Black and White won 11 times.

Honorary Awards

Eight lgbt people were given honorary awards, and 1 was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Number of lgbt nominations for acting

Best Actor – 35 nominations (5 wins)

Best Actress – 32 nominations (10 wins)

Best Supporting Actor – 23 nominations (4 wins)

Best Supporting Actress – 14 nominations (5 wins)

First lgbt nomination, first lgbt acting nomination, first ever female nomination, and first female to receive more than one nomination, and first female to win all nominations received in one year.

Janet Gaynor (1906-1984) received three nominations as Best Actress at the very first awards ceremony in 1929 for her roles in “Seventh Heaven”, “Street Angel” and “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans”. She won all three Oscars.

First lgbt male nominations

In 1934 there were two lgbt male nominees: George Cukor (1899-1983) as Best Director for “Little Women”; and Charles Laughton (1899-1962) as Best Actor as King Henry VIII in “The Private Life of Henry VIII”.

First male lgbt winner

Charles Laughton (1899-1962) for Best Actor in 1934 (above).

First non-acting lgbt nomination

George Cukor (1899-1983), nominated as Best Director in 1934 (above).

First non-acting lgbt winner, the most nominated lgbt non-actor, the most consecutive years with a nomination, and the lgbt person with the most Oscars

Edwin B. Willis (1893-1963) won Best Art Direction (Colour) for “Blossoms in the Dust” in 1942. He received a total of 32 nominations over 27 years with a further 7 wins. He was nominated every year between 1950 and 1958.

First female transgender nomination, first transgender person to be nominated twice

Angela Morley (1924-2009), nominated for Best Scoring: Original Song Score and Adaptation or Scoring in 1975 for “The Little Prince”. She was nominated in the same category in 1978 for “The Slipper and the Rose”.

First male transgender nomination

Yance Ford (b.1972), nominated for Best Documentary Feature in 2018 for “Strong Island”.

First transgender acting nomination (pre transition)

Elliott Page (b.1987), nominated as Best Actress in 2008 for playing the lead role in “Juno”.

First lgbt actor to play a non-lgbt character of the opposite sex

Linda Hunt (b.1945), nominated at Best Actress in 1983 for playing Billy Kwan in “The Year of Living Dangerously”.

First black lgbt acting nomination

Paul Winfield (1939-2004), nominated as Best Actor in 1973 for “Sounder”.

First black lgbt non-acting nomination

Lee Daniels (b.1959), nominated as Best Director in 2010 for “Precious”.

Lgbt actors with the most nominations

Katherine Hepburn (1907-2003) received 12 nominations, all for Best Actress. She won 4 times, and holds the record for the most Oscars won by any female actor.

Sir Laurence Olivier, Lord Olivier (1907-1989) received 13 nominations, though they include Best Director and Best Picture (“Hamlet”, 1949), and one honorary award. He also won 4 times.

First posthumous lgbt acting nomination

Jeanne Eagels (1890-1929), nominated in April 1930 as Best Actress for “The Letter”.

First posthumous lgbt male acting nomination, first lgbt actor to be nominated posthumously twice

James Dean (1931-1955), nominated in 1956 as Best Actor for “East of Eden”, and nominated in 1957 as Best Actor for “Giant”.

First posthumous lgbt non-acting nomination, first posthumous lgbt winner, most number of posthumous nominations

Howard Ashman (1950-1991) was nominated in 1992 as lyricist in the Best Original Song Category with three songs from “Beauty and the Beast”, “Be Our Guest”, “Belle” and the title song, which was the first posthumous win by an lgbt individual. Howard received his fourth posthumous nomination in 1993 in the same category with “Friend Like Me” from “Aladdin”.

Lgbt nominee with the lowest success rate

Many people were nominated once but did not win. Several with multiple nominations also did not win. Probably the most famous of these are songwriter Cole Porter (1891-1964) and actor Montgomery Clift (1920-1966), who each received 4 nominations but did not win. The lgbt person nominated the most without a win was Howard Bristol (1902-1971), who was nominated 9 times between 1942 and 1969 in all of the three Best Art Direction categories.

Film with the most lgbt nominees, and film with the most lgbt winners

In 1952 “An American in Paris” had 6 lgbt people among its 15 nominees in 8 categories. Five of those lgbt nominees won – 2 for Best Art Direction: Colour, and 3 for Best Costume Design: Colour.

Year with the most number of lgbt nominees, and the most lgbt winners

At the 1952 ceremony a total of 16 lgbt people received 20 nominations in 9 categories. Eight of those people won in 4 of the categories, including “An American in Paris” (above).

Lgbt people with the most multiple nominations in one year

There are 7 who have been nominated 3 times in one year. They include Janet Gaynor in 1929 (also the first lgbt multiple winner in one year, see above), Edwin B. Willis in 1954 (see above), and Howard Ashman in 1992 (all posthumous, see above). The others are:

Samuel M. Comer (1893-1974) in 1964 for Best Art Decoration on 3 different films,

Jacques Demy (1921-1990) in 1966 in 3 categories for “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”,

Sir Elton John (b.1947) in 1995 for 3 songs from “The Lion King”, and

Henry Krieger (b.1945) in 2007 for 3 songs from “Dreamgirls”.

I think that’s enough statistics for now. If I get the time I’ll produce another list of interesting lgbt Oscar facts in the future, perhaps concentrating on music, design or production.

 

Advent 4: Scrooge

One of the constant elements of a 21st century Christmas is the classic ghost story “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. Ever since it was first published in 1843 it has become a feature of the British Christmas.

Many adaptations have been produced over the years, though the original version remains at the top of the list. Even in the 21st century public readings of the original story are popular, and no more so than those performed in the UK by the gay actor Simon Callow (b.1949). Because of the popularity of his readings of “A Christmas Carol” Simon even got to play Dickens in two episodes of “Doctor Who”. The first was in the 2005 episode “The Unquiet Dead” which, even though being set on Christmas Eve 1869, was actually broadcast in April. I often watch it again with all the other Doctor Who Christmas Specials. Simon’s second Doctor Who appearance was a cameo part in the episode “The Wedding of River Song” (2011).

Film versions of “A Christmas Carol” are many and varied. They range from the 1938 version with Reginald Owen as Scrooge to the contemporary setting of “Scrooged” starring Bill Murray (my favourite modern retelling of the story). Many more contemporary version abound, usually appallingly bad and made by the Hallmark channel. One of the best and most often screened version is the more traditional “Scrooge” (called “A Christmas Carol” in the US) made in 1951 with the wonderful Alistair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge.

The film was directed by Brian Desmond Hurst (1895-1986), an openly gay Irishman who is virtually forgotten today but who directed several other popular British films like “Dangerous Moonlight” and “Tom Brown’s Schooldays”.

Brian’s background reads like a typical Charles Dickens novel. He was born into Victorian poverty and baptised Hans Moore Hawthorn Hurst. He was the seventh child of a poor metalworker in the Belfast shipyards. Brian’s mother died in childbirth three years later and his father remarried. Brian’s new stepmother had a daughter from a previous marriage and she made no attempt to show favour to her daughter and the subsequent three children she had with Brian’s father.

Brian’s father was often unemployed and moved around the shipyards of Northern Ireland to find work. The strain of supporting his large family led to bouts of alcoholism. One of the last jobs Brian’s father was involved with was the construction of the Titanic.

Brian joined the 10th (Irish) Division of the 6th Royal Irish Rifles during World War I. During that war he changed his first name from Hans to Brian to sound less German and more Irish. Brian’s first major posting was to Gallipoli, where half of his battalion were killed in the battle.

After the war Brian lived in Canada, partly to escape the “Irish Troubles”, as the militant independence campaigns were called. In Toronto he studied journalism. There he dropped his middle names, Moore Hawthorn, in favour of Desmond, another traditional Irish name.

So, as Brian Desmond Hurst he went to the US and managed to work as a scenery designer for the great Hollywood film director John Ford (himself of Irish parentage). Through Ford Brian gained experience in the cinematic processes and the two remained life-long friends.

Back in the UK Brian began making short films. He tried to get backing to found an Irish film industry but was unsuccessful. During World War II Brian was recruited by the British government to make short propaganda films. One of several feature-length films he made during this period was “Dangerous Moonlight” (1941), one of the most popular British films of that period. Brian’s own favourite war-time film was “This is the Glory” (1946), a documentary-style reconstruction of the Battle of Arnhem. It was the highest grossing war film until the mid-1950s.

By now Brian was a highly sought after director and he continued to produce popular films, and in 1951 he directed “Scrooge”. This was just one of a series of film adaptations of Dickens’ novels that were being made by various British studios and directors.

Brian Hurst’s “Scrooge” wasn’t an exact adaptation of the story. Scrooge’s life story was expanded, and there is a feel of film noir about it. Perhaps the great success of the film, and the only thing that most British people remember, is the portrayal of Scrooge by one of the UK’s best loved character actors, Alistair Sim.

The success of “Scrooge” has overshadowed Brian Hurst’s other work, though I don’t think he had any problem with that. In the 1950s and 60s the British film industry was turning away from the type of film Brian made and he gradually turned somewhat reclusive. Towards the end of his life he enjoyed a resurgence of interest in himself and is films. The British Film Institute celebrated his 80th birthday in 1975 and several plaques were erected in his name in both England and Ireland. A sort-of biography was published after his death called “The Empress of Ireland”. He is gradually making his way back to the top tier of the best British and Irish film directors of all time.

Brian Hurst’s “Scrooge” is being broadcast on British television several times on different channels this Christmas, even several times on the same channel. If you see it advertised where you live have a look at it, if you haven’t seen it before.

All that’s left for me to say is Merry Christmas, but before I go I’ll let you know that my next article on New Year’s Eve will feature, at last, my list of lgbt Olympians, which now stands at 427 names.

80 More Gays Around the World: Part 21) Stage, Screen and Censorship

Last time on “80 More Gays”: Mathematician 55) Sofya Kovalevskaya (1850-1891) is buried in the same cemetery as 56) Mauritz Stiller (1883-1928), who directed several films based on novels by 57) Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940), the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1909 and who nominated the winner of the 1922 prize, 58) Jacinto Benavente (1866-1954).

58) Jacinto Benavente was a leading figure in Spanish theatre in the first decades of the 20th century. His plays were often satirical and humorous, and it was this style which was remarked upon in the citation of his Nobel Prize.

As with Sofya Kovalevskaya, Jacinto’s sexuality is a question of interpretation and opinion. Jacinto himself shrugged off all rumours of his sexuality, but as far as I can tell, he neither confirmed nor denied them. In Spanish theatrical circles he is widely regarded as having been gay.

Spanish theatre was, naturally, centred in the nation’s capital, Madrid. The major theatre in the city at that time was the Teatro de la Princesa – the Princess Theatre. By 1908 the theatre was owned and managed by a renowned actress Maria Guererro. In the first year under her management it premiered one of Jacinto’s plays, and did so again in 1913, 1914 and 1919. In 1931, three years after Maria Guererro’s death, the Princess Theatre was renamed in her honour.

Jacinto Benavente became a reluctant supporter of General Franco’s regime after the Spanish Civil War of 1936-9. He regarded Franco as the lesser of two evils (fascism and socialism). However, Franco imposed strict censorship on the performing arts and Jacinto decided not to write for many years after it was introduced.

Franco set up the National Propaganda Service. One of the new state censors was 59) Luis Escobar Kirkpatrick (1908-1991). On his father’s death in 1954 Luis inherited the title of Marquess de las Marismas del Guadalquivir. Like Jacinto Benavente Luis Escobar would probably have described himself as a liberal monarchist. Neither were very enthusiastic in their support of Franco’s regime. A friend of Luis because Head of the National Propaganda Service and it was he who appointed Luis as Head of the Theatre and Music Department in 1938. However, neither stayed in their position very long. Both were suspected of non-compliance in their duties and dismissed. In his memoirs Luis admitted that he would usually “okay” each page of a submitted script without reading it.

During his year-long stint as a state censor Luis Escobar was also given the task of setting up what became the National Theatre of Spain. He established a core set of plays from what the Spanish termed their Golden Era, which included those of Jacinto Benavente. In 1940 Luis was appointed director of the Maria Guerrero Theatre.

Luis Escobar was also an actor. He appeared in many television dramas and series, and in a handful of films. He also directed several films, including “La Honradez de la Cerradura” by Jacinto Benavente in 1950 which was nominated for the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.

Luis wasn’t the only aristocrat to be an actor and director. 60) Nicole Stéphane (1923-2007) was one also. Something else that links the two is a common feature in their coat of arms. Below left is the shield from the coat of arms of Luis Escobar. On the right is the shield from Nicole Stéphane’s.

The common feature isn’t apparent without some knowledge of heraldry. Both coats of arms are what are called allusive. They allude to the owner’s names. Luis Escobar’s ancestors adopted brooms was their arms because the Spanish word for a broom is “escoba”. The allusive nature of Nicole Stéphane’s arms in less apparent until you learn that her full name was Baroness Nicole Mathilde Stéphanie de Rothschild. The name Rothschild translates as “red shield” or “red badge”, and this is alluded to by the little red shield in the centre of their arms.

Nicole Stéphane belonged to the French branch of the Rothschild family. Her father, uncle and cousin were also actors, writers and directors. Nicole was nominated for a Bafta (British Oscar) as Best Actress in a Foreign Film for her second film “Les Enfants Terribles” (1950). Nicole’s last acting role was in “Carve Her Name With Pride” (1958).

A serious car accident left her unable to walk and speak for a while and she never fully recovered. It was for this reason that she turned to film production and direction. Although she made several successful films her dream was to film Marcel Proust’s novel series “A la Recherche du Temps Perdu” (Remembrance of Things Past). She acquired the film rights in 1962 and many in the profession thought it was unfilmable. After many struggles over funding and scripts the first film in the series, “Swann In Love”, was produced in 1984. No others were made.

I had originally thought of continuing this “80 More Gays” sequence with Marcel Proust himself, but before I do that I want to take a little detour.

Through Nicole’s family connections she managed to arrange for part of a future film in her “Remembrance of Things Past” series to be filmed at a family mansion, the Château de Ferrières. This belonged to another branch of Nicole’s family and was built for her 3-times-great-uncle James. One of James’s grandchildren, who was very familiar with the château, was Baroness Hélène de Rothschild, known by her married name of 61) Hélène van Zuylen (1863-1947).

Next time on “80 More Gays”: We race across northern France and soar into the skies with a couple of heroes before landing in Morocco to return to Marcel Proust.

Heritage Spotlight: Flower Power To The Rescue

 Prospect Cottage and Derek Jarman’s Garden.

Six months ago it would have been inconceivable to visit any heritage site. With the pandemic lockdown heritage and leisure venues were among the first to be closed. Many people thought that the pandemic would be over by the end of summer and that everything would be back to normal.

Things may never get back to “normal” but one of the steps towards achieving this, taken to help the heritage and leisure industry survive, is the gradual reopening of many sites. Last week the UK held its annual Heritage Open Days. In previous years most heritage sites and museums have been free to enter, and many private heritage sites opened their doors for a couple of days. This year, of course, things are different. There were still celebrations for the Heritage Open Days but many places, including my old place of work, Gainsborough Old Hall, won’t reopen until next year.

The sites that have reopened have implemented social distancing precautions, though with parks and gardens this has not been so much of a problem. Back in January, even before the lockdown, it looked as if one garden in particular was going to be lost, and when the lockdown came into effect its future looked ever gloomier. This garden is of special importance to the lgbt community. It is Derek Jarman’s Garden at Dungeness in Kent.

Derek Jarman (1942-1994) was more well-known in the lgbt community in his lifetime in the UK than he is now. Many people of my generation will know his name and work, though younger generations probably don’t. He was always challenging cinematic norms when it came to depictions of sexuality and gender, leading to him being described as avant garde or the “enfant terrible” of British cinema. Today his films seem tame and harmless. Some of his most famous films are “Sebastiane” (1976) and “Edward II” (1991, based on a play by gay Elizabethan spy Christopher Marlowe).

It isn’t only the fact that the garden was designed and made by Derek Jarman that makes it notable but also the fact that it’s not your typical garden of lush greenery and vivid flowers. It is very much a product of its location, and in his lifetime it attracted a lot of media coverage, as well as being featured in a couple of Derek’s own films.

Derek Jarman’s Garden, and the old fisherman’s collage called Prospect Cottage where Derek lived for the last 17 years of his life, is located on a piece of vast shingle beach not far from an imposing nuclear power station. It is open to the elements, and wind gusts off the English Channel almost continuously. No tree can grow there.

Derek fell in love with the place as soon as he saw it in 1986, alerted by the “For Sale” sign. He made an offer to buy the property almost immediately and very soon moved in and began renovations – not a total modern make-over but a sympathetic restoration to bring more stability to the century-old structure. He once told a journalist that he bought it as a joke, but it is apparent that this quickly turned to a love of the place.

The surrounding shingle garden was virtually a natural wasteland. In fact, the National Trust lists it as a desert. Derek also set about livening up the surrounding beach with a garden. He had always had an interest in flowers and gardening, ever since his parents gave him a gardening book when he was 4.

Derek’s first choice of plants for his new garden were roses. However, the shingle and sandy soil were not a suitable ground for the roses he chose to grow and they withered. Inspired by the surrounding landscape Derek selected roses which could survive in the soil as well as sea kale, red hot pokers, elder, poppies and rare orchids. Because the area is a conservation zone all the plants had to be grown from seed, not transplanted from another location, and no fences are allowed. In among the plants and pathways Derek set up small sculptures and erected pieces of driftwood. At first the locals thought he was building some sort of pagan shrine.

Derek and his partner Keith Collins tended the garden through Derek’s illness. Keith continued after Derek’s death and even after his own diagnosis of a brain tumour in 2018. This was when he decided to put Prospect Cottage and the garden into a trust to preserve it for the nation. Keith died before that trust was completed.

By the end on 2019 the cottage and garden needed to raise £3.5 million to ensure both were saved for the nation or it would go up for private sale in March. A fundraising campaign was formed by the Art Fund, the Tate, and Creative Folkestone. Many of Derek Jarman’s friends and celebrity fans urged the public to help.

When the lockdown came into effect there were fears that the target would not be reached in time. Thankfully, as the deadline approached the target was reached, and Prospect Cottage and Derek Jarman’s Garden were saved. Both will remain pretty much as they were in 2018 when Keith Collins died.

After Keith’s death the Garden Museum in Lambeth, Greater London, decided to mount an exhibition about the garden. Part of the interior of Prospect Cottage was reproduced and actual items from the cottage were loaned to the museum. The opening of the exhibition was delayed by the lockdown. The museum said that the delay actually worked in their favour because the exhibition was expanded to accommodate the new social distancing rules which meant that more items could be included.

The exhibition opened on 4th July and a relatively small number of visitors had the opportunity to see it. The exhibition closed yesterday. Thankfully, more people will be able to see the real thing down at Dungeness when it eventually opens to the public officially – a unique garden created by a unique film-maker.

80 More Gays Around the World: Part 20) Swedish Legacies

Last time on “80 More Gays”: 53) Narses (c.478-c.568), one of the greatest military commanders of the Byzantine Empire, was open about his gender variance, unlike the “Father of the American Cavalry”, recently discovered to have been intersex, 54) Casimir Pulaski (1745-1779), a descendant of the same noble family as mathematician 55) Sofya Kovalevskaya (1850-1891).

 

55) Sofya Kovalevskaya was born Sofya Korvin-Krakovskaya in Moscow. Her father was a direct descendant of the Korwin family, as was 54) Casimir Pulaski. Some genealogists doubt her father’s descent from the Korwins but his unchallenged use of the Korwin coat of arms in his lifetime by the Russian Imperial Heroldmeister (Master Herald) strongly suggests that he was.

 

As a female in Russia at that time the only way Sofya would have obtained a university education was by studying outside the country, and she needed written permission from either her father of her husband to do so. To this end in 1868 she married a radical young palaeontology student called Vladimir Kovalevsij, thus becoming Sofya Kovalevskaya. The marriage was “fake” and both parties were aware it was only made to allow Sofya to study abroad.

 

Sofya travelled around Europe with Vladimir, attending various universities and learned men. By her early 20s Sofya had earned her doctorate. She was a pioneer female mathematician and the first woman in Europe to earn a modern doctorate in maths (from the University of Göttingen in 1874). Sofya was also one of the first women to be appointed a professor (Stockholm University).

 

Sofya’s mathematical papers and theories influenced later generations and includes everything from differential equations (the Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem is partly named after her) to the rings of Saturn.

 

She and Vladimir spent their final years in Sweden. Following the death of Vladimir, from whom she had separated, Sofya became professor of maths at Stockholm University. Sofya died in Stockholm at the young age of 41 from flu and pneumonia. She is buried in Norra Begraviningsplaten, the “Northern Cemetery”, where several notable Swedes were buried, including Alfred Nobel, whose prize for literature with crop up later.

 

Among the famous Swedes buried in Norra Bergaviningspalten is a film director who helped to bring a rising star to Hollywood. That director was called 56) Mauritz Schiller (1883-1928).

 

Mauritz was a pioneer of the early Swedish film industry. In 1912 he wrote and acted in his first film, a short silent film. The silent film industry was beginning to boom around the world and there was an eager audience everywhere. Mauritz appeared in another four films in 1912, also directing three of them. He went on to direct and write another 45 short and feature-length films before being invited to Hollywood by MGM Studios in 1925. Mauritz took with him a young actress he had talent-spotted and featured in one of his recent films, an actress called Greta Garbo.

 

Mauritz Stiller never became a big Hollywood legend himself like his protégé. He was often at odds with the bosses at MGM and Paramount and he returned to Sweden in 1927. He was eventually honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

 

Although many of his film scripts were original Mauritz also adapted plays and novels. One of these was his 1916 film “Vingarme” (Wings), one of the earliest gay love stories ever made. It was adapted from a novel by gay Danish writer Herman Bangs.

 

uritz wrote and directed several films by the same author including the film in which he gave Greta Garbo her first screen role in 1924. The author of the original novel on which the film was based was 57) Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940).

 

In 1919 Selma Lagerlöf sold all the film rights to any yet to be published works to the Swedish Cinema Theatre and Mauritz Stiller was one of several Swedish film-makers to adapt Selma’s novels for the screen.

 

Selma was already a famous novelist by 1919. Her first novel was “Gosta Berling’s Saga”, published in 1891, and was the basis of the film Mauritz made just before going to Hollywood. Selma’s works became very popular in Sweden and she was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1904. She didn’t win, though the Swedish Academy who award her their gold medal.

 

Selma was nominated again for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905. Again she didn’t win. She was further nominated in 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1909. Selma finally won in 1909, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1914 she also became the first woman to be elected to the Swedish Academy and in 1924 she was a judge in the literature contests at the Olympic Games in Paris.

 

A well as being nominated and awarded a Nobel Prize Selma Lagerlöf also twice nominated names herself as a member of the Swedish Academy. In both 1920 and 1922 she nominated Danish writer Georg Brandes. His 1922 nomination lost to 58) Jacinto Benevente (1866-1954).

 

Next time on “80 More Gays”:  We sweep across the Spanish stage and bank on the Rothschilds to follow in their theatrical footsteps before living life in the fast lane.

80 More Gays Around the World: Part 16) A Super Continent

Last time on “80 More Gays”: 40) William Plaine (d.1646) was an ancestor of 41) Vincent Price (1911-1993), whose daughter 42) Victoria Price (b.1962) is a board member of the Vincent Price Art Museum which hosted the first retrospective exhibition of 43) Laura Aguilar (1959-2018), who attended the same college as 44) Jack Larson (1928-2015).

Although 44) Jack Larson will forever be associated with the character of photographer-reporter Jimmy Olsen he was as much a playwright as he was an actor. He was encouraged to write by his tutors at the Pasadena City College in the 1940s, and act in them.

In 1947 a talent scout from MGM Studios spotted Jimmy in a college production and offered him a small role in the film “Scudda Hoo, Scudda Hay” (aka “Summer Lightning”). At the last minute the director changed Jimmy’s character from male to female. Thus Jack Larson lost his screen acting debut to his replacement, Marilyn Monroe.

Back in college Jimmy starred in a musical comedy he wrote called “Balguna del Mar”. After one performance an agent from Warner Brothers offered Jack an audition for “Fighter Squadron”, a film about an American air force squadron in England. Jack got the part.

In 1950 Jack hoped to go to New York to concentrate on a Broadway career. However, his agent persuaded him to audition for a new television series called “Adventures of Superman”. Jack agreed, thinking that non-one would watch it, but at least it would finance his move to New York.

When the series aired it was an instant success. Jack’s contract stated that he was committed to any future season and plan to go to New York was abandoned. Although his character of Jimmy Olsen was very popular Jack considered him to be a cliché and one-dimensional. Superman himself was played by George Reeves. As I mentioned last time George was also a former Pasadena City College student, though he was there a decade before Jack Larson.

Sadly, George Reeves died in 1958 after season 6. By this time Jack had become typecast and it took a while to find other work. It did, however, give him an opportunity to return to writing plays, musicals and operetta. He appeared in handful of films, and produced others that were directed by his life partner, James Bridges. In later years Jack appeared on the comic-con and Superman circuit and guest-starred in films and tv.

The Superman series revitalised the superhero genre on television and every generation has their favourite Superman. For me it is Christopher Reeve. He played him in the 1978 film “Superman - the Movie”. He wasn’t the weak hero we see today who has to team up with others to defeat the villain. He did it on his own.

DC Comics, who own the character, and Warner Brothers who distributed the film, went all out to promote the film, though not to the saturation level we see today. One product was a tabloid magazine-book of the film. The front cover (below) was designed by 45) Neal Pozner (1955-1994).

Most of Neal’s early professional work involved designing album covers for anyone from Jimi Hendrix to Rachmaninov. His Superman book cover was his first work for DC Comics. Very quickly his talent was recognised and he rapidly rose to become the company’s first production designer. In 1986 he was given the task of re-vitalising one of the DC superheroes, Aquaman.

Neal’s major contribution was in the redesign of Aquaman’s costume. The one shown in the recent live-action films is based on the original gold and green costume that Aquaman wore when he first appeared in 1941. Neal gave him a tight-fitting blue outfit. This was subsequently changed back to the original design but last month DC Comics revived Neal’s blue costume for Pride month. Neal continued to work on Aquaman comics until his death.

Sadly, Neal died from AIDS complications. His Aquaman work was continued by Phil Jimenez, among others. Phil is one of the leading comic artists of our time, and Neal gave him his first job at DC Comics. Despite a 15 year age gap they became partners, a fact not known to their colleagues until Neal’s funeral.

Aquaman, like other superheroes, has been revised and re-invented over the years. All of his incarnations share one fact, that he has some connection to Atlantis, even being its king for a while.

Atlantis has captured the imagination for many centuries. For most of these centuries Atlantis was a place from the past, not a place of the present or future. The gay statesman Sir Francis Bacon is probably the first to imagine a future utopian world based on what he believed to have been the Atlantean culture. Later various pseudo-scientific theories were developed, mainly by the author Ignatius Donnelly in 1882 and the theosophists, who believed humanity can communicate with Earth’s guiding deity by receiving knowledge of the ancients by extra-sensory and paranormal experiences.

One of the leading theosophists was 46) Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854-1934). See here for my interpretation of his coat of arms. He was instrumental in bringing Atlantis into theosophist belief. They believed that the Aryan race were the reincarnations of the Atlanteans and were superior to other races. Looking at Charles Leadbeater’s dates you can see who picked up on that idea went.


 Map produced in 1910 in a book by theosophist William Scott-Elliott to show the extension of Atlantis (in pink) at the height of its power and influence, based on the psychic communications between Charles Webster Leadbeater received from the ancient Atlanteans themselves.

The Nazis and Aryan supremacy was covered briefly in my article of 20) Alfred Schuler (1865-1923), the gay man who adopted the swastika. The Nazis even tried to locate Atlantis. It was one of the many supernatural and mystical objects they tried to find, like the Holy Grail sought by Otto Rahn, number 4 in my original “80 Gays” series. Here we can connect Aquaman to the fight against Nazism. He was the creation of the son of Jewish refugees from Austria. His first adventure in 1941 involved rescuing refugees from a Nazi submarine attack.

The Nazis weren’t the first nor the last to look for Atlantis. Obviously, the middle of the Atlantic Ocean has been the preferred location, but all there is at the bottom of the Atlantic is a mid-ocean ridge created by two continental plates splitting apart. This idea of continents moving has been around a long time. The above-mentioned Sir Francis Bacon noted the coastlines of Africa and South America matched but went no further. But among 20th century scientists continental drift was laughable.

In the 1960s a survey dating the geo-magnetism of the rocks across the bottom of the Atlantic proved that there was no continent there and that the continents were moving. Scientists stopped laughing after that. The geophysicist who led the research was 47) Allan Cox (1926-1987).

Next time of “80 More Gays”: We discover the South Pole on the equator, a botanist looking for Nazis in the South Atlantis, and a governor who wants his islands back.